[These pages were authored by the late Thoki Yenn,
and were restored here from the
Internet Archive
by Erik Demaine,
with contributions of missing files from various readers
(notably Tommy Stevens, Roberto Morassi, and Boaz Shuval).
If you spot any other bugs like missing images or pages,
please report them.]

A-Format page one

More about The A-Format& Silver Rectangle - page3.

In Fig. 379 we have the four most com-
monly used sizes of the A-format series.
The largest is A-l, the next A-2 and so
on. Thus we can have two sheets of A-4
from one of A-3, etc.
This series of page formats is extreme-
ly rational and economical in use. It has
brought simplicity and good order to every
stockist of paper who has practised the
system. If he has a stock, for example of
A-1 sheets, he is able quickly and without
any waste whatsoever to cut a supply
of any of the other sizes -- an important
factor in the busy printing industry of to-
day.

So with the A-format. We need not
know the sizes in order to lay down the
proportions, but for the record the
respective sizes in use in Europe are
as follows:
A-1 = 840 x 594
A-2 = 594 x 420
A-3 = 420 x 297
A-4 = 297 x 210
A-5 = 210 x 148.5
Research into the history of the
A-format leads to a misty wilderness.